Solar plants to get forecasts on incoming energy
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is launching the three-year, nationwide solar project with numerous partners in the public and private sectors.
The research team is designing a prototype system to forecast sunlight and resulting power every 15 minutes over specific solar facilities.
"It's critical for utility managers to know how much sunlight will be reaching solar energy plants in order to have confidence that they can supply sufficient power when their customers need it," says Sue Ellen Haupt, director of NCAR's Weather Systems and Assessment Program and the lead researcher on the solar energy project.
"These detailed cloud and irradiance forecasts are a vital step in using more energy from the Sun."
Predicting clouds, which form out of microscopic droplets of water or ice, is notoriously difficult. Clouds are affected by a myriad of factors, including winds, humidity, sunlight, surface heat, and tiny airborne particles, as well as chemicals and gases in the atmosphere.
Solar energy output is affected not just by when and where clouds form, but also by the types of clouds present.
The thickness and elevation of clouds have greatly differing effects on the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. Wispy cirrus clouds several miles above the surface, for example, block far less sunlight than thick, low-lying stratus clouds.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق